Suzen Murakoshi talks Clowning, Body Work and her ‘Hands and Feet’ Workshop at Christopher Harrison’s AntiGravity Lab on Dec. 14

The last time I saw my ex-roommate Suzen Murakoshi, she was performing her solo show Breathe Love Repeat: a near-life experience at Under St. Marks, during the 2012 Frigid New York Festival in February 2012. www.breatheloverepeat.com

Suzen Murakoshi in rehearsal for Breathe Love Repeat at Under St. Mark’s in New York. Photo by Lia Chang

Helmed by longtime collaborator Obie award-winning actress Ching Valdes-Aran, Breathe Love Repeat: a near-life experience, written by and starring Ms. Murakoshi, is an intimate tribute to her beloved mother focusing on the last days before her mother succumbed to cancer.

Ching Valdes-Aran and Suzen Murakoshi in rehearsal for Breathe Love Repeat at Under St. Mark’s in New York. Photo by Lia Chang

The Hawaii native seamlessly transported us to the mountains of Japan as she snowboards during a trip with her mother in 2009; to her homebase of New York where she receives the news about the cancer; then to the islands of Hawaii, where she returns to take care of her mother.

Ching Valdes-Aran and Suzen Murakoshi in rehearsal for Breathe Love Repeat at Under St. Mark’s in New York. Photo by Lia Chang

Suzen Murakoshi is a veteran of Broadway, off-Broadway and regional theatres. Her favorite roles include “Juliet” in Romeo and Juliet at the Cleveland Playhouse and “Connie” in A Chorus Line on Broadway. Together with Obie award winner, Ching Valdes-Aran, Ms. Murakoshi has performed her own past work at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where she was short-listed for Best Actor for her role as “Helen” in Slippery When Wet (SWW). She has appeared in the films Bill Murray’s Quick Change, Oliver Stone’s Wall Street and Mario Van Peebles’ New Jack City.

Suzen Murakoshi and Ching Valdes-Aran in rehearsal for Breathe Love Repeat at Under St. Mark’s in New York. Photo by Lia Chang

Ms. Murakoshi received an MFA from the NYC New School of Drama in Playwriting and Acting. She also attended Oxford University, Balliol College, with the British American Drama Academy. Her work has been produced at the Penumbra Theatre in Minneapolis, MN to critical acclaim. Other produced plays include Slippery When Wet at La MaMa Experimental Theatre, Sisters at Circle in the Square Downtown, NYC. Her short play, Dunno, Gotta Go was accepted and given a reading at the Edward Albee Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska, 2004.

Suzen Murakoshi. Photo by Ron Rinaldi

Ms. Murakoshi has worked with the 52nd Street Project in New York City for many years as a writer, actor and director. While there, she co-wrote short plays with ‘Genius Award” fellow, Willie Reale as well as having been directed as an actor by Oscar winner Frances McDormand.

After many years of navigating her multiple careers in Manhattan, she now splits her time between two islands – Honolulu and New York where she has established a business in body work. Her current clients include several heiresses, Isabella Gucci and Crystal Audigierre, Tony winner Ruthie Ann Miles, Tony nominee Geneva Carr, fashion icon Emily Lemer. She has also worked on Reed Birney, Willy Reale, Ching Valdes-Aran and J. Elaine Marcos.

On Monday, December 14th, she returns to New York to teach her ‘Hands and Feet’ workshop at Antigravity Fitness New York in the Antigravity Training Lab, 265 West 37th Street, Suite 1100 (1:15 – 2pm). Click here for more information and here to RSVP.

Christopher Harrison, the founder of Anti-Gravity Yoga, is also a former Broadway dancer. Harrison and Murakoshi both performed in A Chorus Line around the same time, but in different productions around the world. The aerial hammock technique, Anti-Gravity, which he created, is for the general public to experience weightlessness, flight, and zero-compression inversions. In fact, after the lyricist Stephen Schwartz saw Christopher’s Anti-Gravity company, he composed, “Defying Gravity” for the musical, Wicked.

“Yamuna Body Rolling is one of my favorite techniques for stimulating bone and breaking up fascia knots. It boasts multidimensional elongation of muscle fibers. In other words, Yamuna Body Rolling releases tension that constricts muscle. The best part is that you don’t have to tell your massage therapist “deeper.” Instead, you monitor your own resistance through the use of your own body weight.

—Christopher Harrison, Creator AntiGravity Yoga

We caught up last week over lunch and chatted about her body work, her love of clowning and what it is like to be bi-island.

Suzen Murakoshi. Photo by Carol Nakamoto

Lia: How long have you been doing body work?Suzen: I’ve been pursuing it for ten years since I met Yamuna Zake at her flagship studio on Perry Street. But, as a dancer, I’ve been doing it my whole life.

Photo by Carol Nakamoto

I love working on performers because they know their bodies so well, and immediately get the concepts of bone stimulation, alignment and necessity of releasing jaw/mouth/tongue tension. Yamuna’s work is based on these concepts. There is also a supportive body rolling technique with Italian-made balls of varying sizes to allow us to do the work on ourselves at anytime, anywhere.

Photo by Carol Nakamoto

Lia: How are you navigating being bi-island?Suzen: The sharing of visuals, ideas and communication is easy online. But, theatre needs to be done in the flesh. Energies, smells, and touch must be done in person. Crossing the Pacific and the continent between Honolulu and Manhattan, has become my commute. In fact, I taught a workshop at the Honolulu Club called, “Yamuna On the Go/Travel.” I shared my travel tips using Yamuna’s body rolling on the plane, while sitting. I’m now able to handle any long haul. Using the balls to roll up the spine, down the legs, and into the shoulders keeps my body free whenever I land. Other secrets I shared were: castor oil as a go-to moisturizer for coating my skin everywhere. And, playing with the body’s work of digestion in setting my body clock. I make sure I eat well, control it, and set my internal clock to the destination, 24 hours before flying, and live accordingly.